BUSINESS BLOGS
BUSINESS BLOGS
category: business
30 Jun 2009
related tags: Internet & Web | Video | Joost |

Joost will now offer a white-label version of its software and lay off some folks, including CEO Mike Volpi.

We signed a distribution deal with Joost before they launched, we were very proud to be a part of their roster (read more in my post at the time called: Joost what does WatchMojo.com Have in Common with Viacom, CNN, Turner, Sony, CBS, Warner Music Group and the NHL?)

We were equally proud to sign a deal with hulu, who also put our premium content alongside super premium content from traditional media companies.

The difference, however, is that Joost has left a trail of bizarre decisions and mismanagement.  I never said anything, because they were a partner, but today’s news shows that bad decisions have an eventual cost, especially in a very competitive and cluttered marketplace.

For more on that, read:

- Online Video Distribution: The Race for #3 is On…(November 23, 2007)
- Online Video Aggregators: The Fight to Avoid Obsolescence is On (April 6th 2009)

The problem is that Joost was dead on arrival, let alone November 2007 (not 2008, 2007 folks!) when I wrote that first article.  By the second article (April 2009), I was wondering why Joost was still burning through VC funds?

The problems really ran across the board:

- the only thing Joost had going for itself was the sleek player, but that initially required a download, making it dead on arrival.

- a bigger problem was that its founders had success disrupting traditional industries, not enabling them.

- the biggest problem, was that Joost’s mid-level people did not really seem to get content either.  We had short form 1-3 minute clips that they asked us to re-edit into long form content.  You know, the kind that online audiences are running away from TV.

- advertising: they secured big name advertisers (due to their pedigree, perhaps) but failed to have any volume… because they failed to have any traction.

- too much money: read News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch’s bio, in it, he keeps talking about not having enough capital (yes, that Rupert Murdoch), ditto MySpace.  Over time, more money doesn’t prove to do anything but create more problems.

All to say, this reinforces the main theme: financiers don’t know anything about the video industry online, which remains a media and not technology space.

Read more on Media  Memo.